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We are obliged, therefore, at the start, both to establish the
existence of this other Kind and to examine its nature and the
mode of its Being.
Now if Matter must characteristically be undetermined, void of
shape, while in that sphere of the Highest there can be nothing
that lacks determination, nothing shapeless, there can be no
Matter there. Further, if all that order is simplex, there can be
no need of Matter, whose function is to join with some other
element to form a compound: it will be found of necessity in
things of derived existence and shifting nature- the signs which
lead us to the notion of Matter- but it is unnecessary to the
primal.
And again, where could it have come from? whence did it take its
being? If it is derived, it has a source: if it is eternal, then
the Primal-Principles are more numerous than we thought, the
Firsts are a meeting-ground. Lastly, if that Matter has been
entered by Idea, the union constitutes a body; and, so, there is
Body in the Supreme.
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